Information commonly comes in large quantities. In many cases, such as published reference works, cataloged library systems, or well-designed databases, the information is organized and indexed for easy information retrieval. In many other cases, such as litigation discovery, personal document collections, electronic records on local networks, and internet search results (to name just a few), the information is poorly organized and not indexed at all, making it difficult to locate and retrieve desired information.
In the past, information providers have scanned documents or otherwise obtained documents in electronic form and have applied automated searching techniques to aid users in their quest for information. Generally, such information providers employ term searching with Boolean operations (AND, OR, and NOT). Though computationally efficient, this automated searching technique suffers from a number of drawbacks. The primary drawback is the sensitivity of the search results to the choice of search terms. In a body of documents, the sought-after information may be hidden by its use of synonyms, misspellings, and different word forms (e.g., ice, iced, ices, icing, deice, re-ice, . . . ). A second major drawback is this search technique's failure to discern differences in term usage, and consequently this search technique returns a large percentage of irrelevant results (e.g., “icing” refers to frost formation, a sugared cake topping, and a hockey penalty).
These drawbacks can usually be overcome by a person having great familiarity with the information being sought, e.g., by structuring a query using terms commonly used in the sought-after document's subject area. Unfortunately, such familiarity is commonly not possessed by the searcher. Accordingly, information providers seek alternative searching techniques to offer their users. A searching technique would greatly benefit such information providers if it enabled users to find their desired information without necessitating some preexisting degree of familiarity with the sought after information or the searching tool itself.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.